In the House of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), teaching lives upstairs and learning in the basement

Abstract

Staff and students grumble about how research allegedly obscures the merits of exemplary teaching at universities. Modern efforts to move teaching from the periphery to the centre of the university were marked by books on the scholarship of teaching (SoT). Starting in the 1990s it became possible for academic staff to cite their SoT in claims for promotion. After being criticised, advocates of SoT hurriedly added ‘learning’ and now speak of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Unfortunately, within the house of SoTL, teaching lives upstairs and learning in the basement. For SoTL to flourish there must be a more willing embrace of learning. The concept could gain traction by embracing work on adult education, lifelong education, self-directed learning, farm-gate intellectuals, communities of practice and learning communities. With SoTL struggling, it is time to launch the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT).

Keywords:

• learning without a teacher
• marginalization of learning
• adult education